Batangas governor Mandanas, 80, weds lawyer, 32

MANILA, Philippines —  Batangas Gov. Hermilando Mandanas, 80, married 32-year-old lawyer Angelica Chua on Wednesday.

President Marcos and First Lady Liza Marcos along with other politicians and businessmen attended the wedding held at the Minor Basilica and Parish of the Immaculate Conception in Batangas City.

“I came here not only of my own free will, but full of love,” Mandanas said in his wedding vows. “We are both ready to raise as good Christians the children who God will give us.”

Tearing up as she spoke, Chua thanked Mandanas for “having the courage to ask me to be your Valentine and for choosing to spend the rest of your life with me.”

“I’ve had my heart broken so many times that I guarded up and raised my standards so high, so high no one was supposed to reach it so I won’t get hurt again, until you came,” she said.

“And if there is one thing I’d ask of you, it is for you to promise to stay for as long as you can so I can grow old with you,” Chua added.

A report on abs-cbnnews quoted the governor’s wife as saying that some of their principal sponsors shouldered the cost of the reception held in front of the provincial capitol.

Chua’s mother is Batangas City Executive Judge Maria Cecilia Chua. Her father is a doctor while her uncle, Artemio Chua, was former mayor of Ibaan town.

Judge Chua is the magistrate behind the Mandanas ruling, which allowed local government units to have a larger share in national government revenues.

Mandanas’ first wife Anakalusugan party-list nominee Regina Reyes died in 2022.